This invention, referred to as dual-biasing, weld-attaching of end components to an elongate element, pertains to a method utilizing dual-spring biasing action for precisely positioning and supporting end mounting components which are to be welded to the opposite ends of an elongate I-beam (elongate element) in order to prepare that beam for attachment to the side of a column in a precision building frame structure. Dual-action spring biasing is specifically employed to urge the opposite ends of such a beam and a pair of beam-end mounting components tightly against one another during weld joining of such a beam ends and mounting components. The method of the invention also specially accommodates such positioning and supporting in a context which also allows for expected beam-length expansion during heat-generating welding. As will be seen, in the preferred practice of the present invention, both ends of a beam are dealt with simultaneously. It should be understood that, while the invention is specifically described and illustrated herein in relation to an elongate beam, there may be other settings wherein practice of the invention offers similar utility.
Thus, and for the purpose of illustration, a preferred and best-mode manner of practicing the invention, referred to also as a method associated with the attachment of a beam to a column utilizing a beam-end mounting component, is described in conjunction with a particular, collar-based, column/beam mounting, or interconnect, system with respect to which practice of this invention has been found to offer particular utility. This system is described in a prior-filed, currently pending U.S. patent application identified as Ser. No. 9/943,711, filed on Aug. 30, 2001 for “Moment-Resistant Building Frame Structure Componentry and Method”. For background purposes only, the disclosure of this '711 patent application is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Component parts employed in this prior-application-disclosed interconnection system are illustrated and described herein to the extent useful in explaining the substance, and the principles of operation, of the present invention.
It is typical that horizontal beams employed in a structural, plural-story building frame are formed with an I-beam transverse cross-sectional footprint, or configuration. The present invention, which, as will become apparent, can be invoked with any beam “cross section”, is specifically illustrated herein in the context of an I-beam configuration with respect to which it has been found to offer particular utility. Thus, specific reference herein to an I-beam should be understood to be reference also to other beam cross-sectional configurations with respect to which implementation of the present invention may have utility.
The invention is also described herein in the context of employing beam-end mounting components, during their weld-attachment to opposite beam ends, to stabilize the end cross section of a beam under circumstances where a certain amount of transverse, cross-sectional configuration-distortion may have occurred during beam fabrication. In the case of an I-beam, such deformation usually involves angulation of one or both flanges out of a designed and intended condition of right-angularity, or parallel planarity, relative to the beam's central web. It should be understood that while such stabilization provides a good environment for the description of the present invention, the invention per se is completely independent of the illustrative stabilization practice.
According to the preferred and best-mode manner of practicing the invention, provided at two spaced locations in a weld-enabling jig structure are two sets of moveable, first and second biasing elements which are adapted to receive and hold a pair of beam-end mounting components (one component per set). Collectively, the sets of first and second biasing elements, in what can be thought of as being their default, nominal positions in the jig structure, effectively define precise locations for receiving the opposite ends of an elongate I-beam with yet un-weld-attached beam-end mounting components fitted preliminarily onto the opposite beam ends. In each set of first and second biasing elements, the first biasing element is spring-biased in the jig structure toward a beam end through a fitted beam-end mounting component which is on that end, and the second biasing element is shaped to catch a portion of the beam-end mounting component, and is spring-biased to urge the beam-end mounting component toward the associated first biasing element.
These sets of first and second biasing elements thus define precise locations for the beam-end mounting components which are to be weld-attached to opposite ends of a beam, with the biasing springs which are associated with the first biasing elements accommodating beam-length extension due to the heat of welding.
As will be seen, the proposed sets of first and second biasing elements, along with their respective biasing springs, implement the methodology of the present invention in a very practical, simple and inexpensive way.
The various features and advantages of the invention will become more fully apparent as the detailed description which now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.